Don’t eventhink that,Troi told herself as she pushed down the torrent of refulgent anxieties that streamed not only from Radowski, but also from the taciturn Admiral Akaar and Titan’s uncharacteristically somber new chief engineer, Dr. Ra-Havreii. The latter two senior officers—both clearly uneasy about having to allow subordinates to step into harm’s way—flanked Radowski behind the transporter console. They watched in silence as the away team members, all of them now outfitted in environmental suits, double-checked the status of their phasers, comm circuits, and tricorders before making their way up onto the round transporter stage.
After Tuvok and Lieutenant Rriarr, a Caitian security officer, took up protective positions on either side of the captain, Troi strode to the last empty pad, between a not-quite-so-serene-as-usual Science Officer Jaza and a palpably jumpy Ensign Crandall from engineering. The latter winced as he set his toolkit down at his feet with a too-loud clatter.
Will favored the away team with a backward glance and a reassuring grin that Troi could tell buoyed everyone, at least a little. “Sounds like everyone is ready.”
From beside the console, Akaar nodded with great solemnity as he touched his combadge. “Akaar to bridge.”
“Vale here.”
“The away team is prepared for transport, Commander. Are Donatra’s people still in position?”
“They’ve just signaled again that they are.”
“Confirmed,” Radowski said, glancing at his board, where a new stream of data had apparently just begun scrolling. “Preparing for coordinated transport in twenty seconds.”
“Good work, Lieutenant. And Will?”
“Go ahead, Christine.”
“Godspeed. But if I eventhink you might try to leave me in permanent command ofTitan , I’m coming after you. Sir.”
Will’s grin expanded, in obvious appreciation of his exec’s penchant for dark humor. “So noted. I’ll try to be home in time for dinner. Mr. Radowski, energize.”
Radowski executed Will’s order, and to Troi’s eyes, Titan’s transporter room dissolved. She wondered if the temporary state of nonexistence through which she was passing in any way resembled what the Sleeper experienced during his long journey toward wakefulness.
IMPERIAL WARBIRD RA’KHOI
His breath sounding a bit too loud inside his helmet, Riker found himself standing in a broad alcove lit with a subdued, greenish light. He wondered if the beam-in had taken significantly longer than usual, or if his imagination had merely decided to work a double shift. He assumed the former, since it wasn’t every day that one beamed straight through a D’deridex-class warbird’s formidable deflector shield envelope, and with Romulan cooperation no less. Looking around, he saw that the other members of the away team were positioned just as he’d expected. Tuvok and Rriarr had their weapons drawn—also just as he’d expected.
“Captain Riker,” said the familiar voice of Donatra, which echoed slightly in the high-ceilinged chamber. Ensign Crandall responded with a startled yip, nearly tripped over his toolbox, then settled into an embarrassed silence.
Riker turned toward the voice that had called to him, as did the rest of his party.
“Welcome aboard the Imperial Warbird Ra’khoi,”Donatra said. She stood at the front of a group of four Romulan officers, including herself. Like the Titanteam, she and her staff were dressed in pressure suits and helmets, the livid orange-amber of the Romulan garments presenting a sharp contrast to the stark Starfleet white. The quartet stood in a rough circle, evidently having just beamed over from the Valdore.
Jaza, Tuvok, and a pair of Donatra’s people ran some quick scans and within moments determined that the room—an alcove adjacent to the main engineering section—was utterly empty. Riker and Donatra then exchanged quick introductions of their respective teams. Seketh and Daehla, both of whom were running scanners, were apparently youngish women, a decurion and a sciences specialist respectively, while Liravek was an imperious male centurion of perhaps early middle age.
“Life readings?” Riker asked.
“The entire crew complement seems to be alive, but unconscious,” Daehla said.
“Comatose is a more apt word, I should think,” Seketh said, consulting her own scanner.
“What could cause such a thing?” Centurion Liravek asked sharply, as though interrogating a group of recalcitrant prisoners. Riker was beginning not to like him very much.
When it became clear that neither Seketh nor Daehla had a ready answer, Jaza spoke up. “This…entity that’s controlling the fleet’s computer systems seems to have altered the environmental control system. I’m picking up high concentrations of anesthezine in the air supply, which didn’t show up on our sensor scans, probably because of interference caused by the shields. If we hadn’t taken the precaution of putting on environmental suits…” The Bajoran trailed off significantly.
“So you’re saying that our…‘Red King’ just wanted to nudge the crew out of its way,” Crandall asked.
Still consulting his tricorder, Jaza nodded. “I’d wager it probably did the very same thing on every ship in the fleet. Our long-range scanners must have missed it because of distance and spatial distortions.”
“The intelligence that hijacked this fleet can lay waste to entire stars and planets,” Riker said. “But it left the crews relatively unharmed. That doesn’t make any sense.”
Jaza shrugged. “Well, we’re positing that our Sleeper has somehow subverted the computers of the entire fleet network, except the Valdore,which wasn’t present at the time of the takeover. Perhaps the entity ran afoul of some sort of personnel-protection fail-safe subroutine in the Romulan rokhelhsoftware. Something like Asimov’s Laws.”
Riker nodded. The fact that the emerging intelligence that had seized control of Donatra’s fleet hadn’t simply killed the crews outright argued in favor of that idea. But it’s wiped out at least one inhabited world so far, whether intentionally or not,he reminded himself again.
He turned toward Donatra and noted the relieved expression he saw through the faceplate of her helmet. “I am grateful not to have found my crews dead, whatever the reason.”
Riker nodded. “We need to access this ship’s computer system,” he said, keenly aware that the Red King’s current beneficence might not last. “Now.”
Donatra nodded back, then immediately took the point, leading the group across a corridor and into an adjacent chamber, a room lined with consoles, monitor screens, and holotanks. A pair of uniformed figures lay across a bank of consoles, their bodies sprawled in deathlike postures. Donatra and Liravek paused beside them long enough to confirm that they were merely unconscious, like the rest of the crew.
With a gauntleted right hand, Riker tapped the external communicator key located near his suit’s neck ring. “Riker to Titan.”
“Vale here, Captain. What’s the away team’s status?”
“We’ve arrived safely, as has Commander Donatra’s team. What’s the condition of our Sleeper?”
“Still yawning and stretching, but apparently only very slowly. Pazlar, Norellis, and Cethente have been continuously monitoring the correlated ongoing breakdown of local space. They’ve found no acceleration in the protouniverse’s spatial displacement rate—at least not yet. But that also means the effect’s not slowing down any, either. Another two weeks, three tops, and…pfffft. We’ll want to be very far away from here when that happens.”
Am I capable of doing that?Riker thought as he considered his exec’s report. Cutting and running just on the off chance Imight manage to save my ship and crew, and get them home? Or do I do my damnedest to head this thing off, and maybe save billions of lives, regardless of what happens toTitan ?After all, in helping to defeat Shinzon, he had been at least partially responsible for opening up the spatial rift that may have ultimately drawn the protouniverse here.